The present invention relates to vacuum cleaners. More particularly, the instant invention relates to improvements in convertible vacuum cleaners having the combined features of upright and canister vacuum cleaners.
Convertible vacuum cleaners which embody the advantages of both an upright and a canister vacuum cleaner have recently come into vogue. Such a vacuum cleaner may be used as an upright cleaner for the cleaning of a floor surface such as a carpet or as a canister-type vacuum cleaner for general purpose cleaning such as of upholstered furniture, draperies and the like. For the latter purpose, a separate nozzle can be attached to a hose end pulled out of a vacuum cleaner socket. For floor cleaning, the hose end is inserted in the socket to allow a suction to be drawn on the floor surface. All the parts necessary for the use of the cleaner for both types of operation are associated with the cleaner except the separate nozzles which are to be attached to the end of the hose when the cleaner is used for general cleaning purposes.
Some designs of such a convertible vacuum cleaner are disadvantageous in that different motors are utilized to drive the fan or air pump which creates the vacuum and to drive the brush which agitates the floor surface during floor cleaning operations.
Several conventional vacuum cleaners do utilize the same motor to drive both the suction fan as well as the rotating brush. However, these types of vacuum cleaners have a complicated design which is difficult and expensive to manufacture. Also, in these vacuum cleaners the nozzles which are to be attached to the end of the hose are stored separately from the vacuum cleaner.
One type of known vacuum cleaner utilizes a single motor to both drive the fan or air pump and the rotating brush and holds the nozzles used for general cleaning purposes on the vacuum cleaner body itself. However, this known vacuum cleaner is disadvantageous in that it has a complicated design which is difficult to manufacture and includes a plurality of parts making the vacuum cleaner relatively expensive.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved convertible vacuum cleaner which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others and meet the above-stated needs while providing better and more advantageous overall results.